Friday, 29 August 2025, 07:39
The gap between the legal retirement age and the actual average retirement age in Spain is gradually narrowing. In August, the latter stood at 65.3 years, according to data released by the national Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration. In other words, just 1.5 years below the legal limit for workers with less than 38 years and 3 months of contributions.
Up to 31 July, Social Security had registered 215,971 new retirees, of which seven out of ten correspond to the legal age, while early retirements have plummeted by 12.4% in the last five years. “This change reflects the impact of the delay incentives in force since 2022 and the reconfiguration of the pension framework,” said the department headed by minister Elma Saiz. Delayed retirements now account for 11.4% of the total, up from 4.8% in 2019.
As a result, the average retirement age is 65.3 years, compared with 64.4 years in 2019. For women, the average rises to 65.8 years.
Meanwhile, pension investments keep growing month by month. In August, Social Security earmarked 13.62 billion euros to pay 10.3 million pensions to nearly 9.4 million people. This figure is 6.17% more than in August 2023 and almost a quarter of a percentage point more than in July.
The average pension in the Social Security system stands at 1,312.9 euros per month, some 4.5% more than a year ago. Within this group, the average retirement pension, which is received by some 6.5 million people (more than two thirds of the total), amounts to 1,507.55 euros, that’s 4.4% more than in 2023. By sex, 59.2% of retirement pension recipients are men.
By schemes, the average retirement pension in the General Scheme is 1,666.6 euros per month, while in the Special Scheme for Self-Employed Workers it is 1,010.3 euros per month.
The self-employed are an ageing group
According to figures from the Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration, in July 2025 there were more than 1.34 million self-employed active retirement pensioners, with an average pension of 1,009.61 euros per month, some 4.6% more than in 2024.
At the same time, new retirements in the Reta (special scheme for self-employed workers) continue growing: in 2024, there were more than 60,000 new registrations, of which 22,905 were in the first five months of the year. In the same period of 2025, the figure rose to 26,526 – an increase of more than 13%. In January, the new self-employed retirees received an average pension of 1,155 euros per month.
If the trend continues, the union of professionals and self-employed workers (UPTA) estimates that 2025 will close with 15% more retirements in the Reta than the previous year. The organisation warns that this process reflects the accelerated ageing of the collective and the lack of generational replacement – factors that could reduce the number of contributors to the scheme.
Widening gap
Although the gap between the legal and the actual retirement age is narrowing, the generation gap is widening as the debate on the sustainability of the pension system between young people and retirees is gaining momentum.
In August, new retirees received an average of 1,613 euros per month, which rises to 1,722.5 euros in the General Scheme. This represents a difference of almost 200 euros compared to workers under 30 years of age, whose average salary, according to data from the INE national institute of statistics, is 1,461 euros gross in 14 payments.
Overall, the statistics reflect a progressive rapprochement between the legal retirement age and the actual retirement age, a greater weight of delayed retirements and a steady increase in pension expenditure, in a context in which the gap between the benefits of new retirees and the average wages of young workers persists.